Google’s latest amazing plan to scan millions of books and put them on the Internet has met with a problem. Publishers are very angry because they say Google Print is breaking copyright laws. Book companies fear that putting copyrighted books on the Internet will seriously damage publishing. They compare it to how the illegal downloading of music has harmed the music industry. Google Print will scan books from the university libraries of Harvard, Stanford, Michigan and Oxford. People will be able to reproduce small amounts of material for personal use.

Publishers are furious at Google for turning copyright law upside down. Writers now have to contact Google Print to stop the scanning of their works. Lawyers say the problem is because of copyright laws that are centuries old. New laws cannot be made quickly enough to keep up to date with developments in electronic information. A Google press release* stated: “We’re going to continue talking [with] the publishing industry. These discussions have been crucial in helping to build a program that benefits…the millions of users who’ll be able to discover new books.”

* http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/08/making-books-easier-to-find.html

WARM-UPS

1. BOOKS: In pairs / groups, talk about your history with books. Use these words to help your conversation: First book / Best book / Book collection / Authors / E-books / English books / Harry Potter / Cost / Libraries / The future … Change partners and report on what your first partners said.

2. ZERO COPYRIGHT: Imagine a world where there is no copyright. You can download anything you want for free. In pairs / groups, discuss how zero copyright would affect your life. Discuss what you would download from the following:

Music Books English learning materials Government archives

Movies Art TV shows Other

3. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words are most interesting and which are most boring.

Google / books / the Internet / publishers / copyright / downloading music / Harvard / Oxford University / information technology / discovering new books

Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

4. GOOGLE: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word “Google”. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

5. GOOGLE PRINT OPINIONS: In pairs / groups, talk about how far you agree with these opinions on copyright and Google Print:

1. I think all of the world’s books should be on the Internet.
2. Paper books will disappear one day so everything will be digital.
3. Google really wants to increase the knowledge available to the world.
4. If Google succeeds, many writers will not be able to afford to write.
5. Putting books on the Internet will increase world literacy. Google is wonderful.
6. Google is only interested in profits.
7. I would love to have books from the world’s best libraries on my computer.
8. Publishing companies need to get up to date. Paper is old-fashioned.

6. QUICK DEBATE: Students A think copyright laws should be abandoned. Students B think copyright laws are essential. Change partners often.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	Google wants to put millions of books on the Internet.	T / F
b.	Publishers are helping Google with its project.	T / F
c.	Google Print involves scanning all of the books sold by Amazon.com.	T / F
d.	People will be able to photocopy as much material as they like.	T / F
e.	Publishers say Google has turned copyright laws upside down.	T / F
f.	Experts say copyright laws are too out of date.	T / F
g.	Google is not talking with publishing companies.	T / F
h.	Google wants millions of people to discover new books.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

a.	amazing	angry
b.	problem	harm
c.	fear	find
d.	damage	copy
e.	reproduce	talks
f.	furious	awesome
g.	stop	create
h.	discussions	worry
i.	build	prevent
j.	discover	obstacle

3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

a.	Google’s latest	with developments
b.	has met with	harmed the music industry
c.	they say Google Print is breaking	are centuries old
d.	illegal downloading of music has	a problem
e.	reproduce small amounts	at Google
f.	Publishers are furious	amazing plan
g.	copyright laws that	able to discover new books
h.	keep up to date	copyright laws
i.	These discussions have	of material
j.	millions of users who’ll be	been crucial

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words in the column on the right into the correct space.

Google delays book scanning

Google’s latest amazing plan to _______ millions of books and put them on the Internet has _______ with a problem. Publishers are very angry because they say Google Print is _______ copyright laws. Book companies _______ that putting copyrighted books on the Internet will seriously damage publishing. They compare it to how the _______ downloading of music has harmed the music _______. Google Print will scan books from the university _______ of Harvard, Stanford, Michigan and Oxford. People will be able to reproduce small _______ of material for personal use.		fear libraries met industry scan amounts illegal breaking
Publishers are _______ at Google for turning copyright law upside _______. Writers now have to contact Google Print to stop the scanning of their _______. Lawyers say the problem is because of copyright laws that are centuries _______. New laws cannot be made quickly enough to keep up to _______ with developments in electronic information. A Google _______ release stated: “We’re going to continue talking [with] the publishing industry. These _______ have been crucial in helping to build a program that benefits…the millions of users who’ll be able to _______ new books.”		discussions works date furious discover old press down

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘copy’ and ‘right’.

• Share your findings with your partners.
• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the gap fill. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. STUDENT “BOOKS” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about books, Google Print, libraries and copyright.

• Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers.
• Go back to your original partner / group and compare your findings.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

amazing breaking fear downloading libraries personal

furious centuries electronic release crucial discover

DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1. What did you think when you first saw this headline?
2. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
3. What do you think about Google Print?
4. Do you think all books should be freely available online?
5. Google says putting books online will increase book sales. What do you think?
6. Google wants to put as much of the world’s information and knowledge on the Web. What do you think of this?
7. If all books are online, libraries might disappear. Do you think this is good?
8. Would you make regular use of Google Print?
9. How often do you visit libraries?
10. How often do you buy books?

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. What do you think about what you read?
3. Do you think publishing companies will survive?
4. Would you like to switch to downloadable E-books or do you prefer paper books?
5. Do you think authors would like their books available to the whole world on Google Print?
6. Do you think copyright laws are fair?
7. Have you ever broken copyright laws by photocopying books?
8. Do you think Google will help increase world literacy?
9. When was the last time you furious about something?
10. Did you like this discussion?

AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

1. What question would you like to ask about this topic?
2. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
3. Was there a question you didn’t like?
4. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
5. What did you like talking about?
6. Do you want to know how anyone else answered the questions?
7. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

ROLE PLAY: This role play is to discuss whether or not Google should scan millions of books and put them online. Team up with classmates who have the same role as you. Develop your roles and discuss ideas and “strategies” before the role play begins.

Introduce yourself to the other role players.

Role A – Google Print Boss You think all of the words books should be available online. New writers will get their books publicized worldwide. World literacy rates will rise. World education will improve. Publishers will sell more paper books. The future is digital. THINK OF MORE REASONS WHY GOOGLE PRINT IS GREAT.

Role B – Student You are fed up with over-priced textbooks and reading books. The new Harry Potter book is VERY expensive. Google Print will mean you can read more books and get better grades and a better job. You can also get out-of-print books that publishers no longer make profits from. THINK OF MORE REASONS WHY YOU LOVE GOOGLE PRINT.

Role C – Publisher You want to take Google to court over breaking copyright laws. Google is not above the law and cannot do what it wants with the Internet. You are worried that placing books on the Web will kill the publishing industry. Book companies are essential for new and established writers. THINK OF MORE REASONS WHY GOOGLE PRINT IS BAD.

Role D – Writer You think Google has just ended your career. You will not be able to make any money if your books are available for free on the Internet. You believe Google Print will stop any future writers from writing. You accuse Google Print of killing the future of world literature. THINK OF MORE REASONS WHY WRITERS MUST BE PAID FOR THEIR BOOKS.

Change roles and repeat the role play. Comment in groups about the differences between the two role plays.

In pairs / groups, discuss whether you really believe in what you said while you were in your roles.

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Google delays book scanning

Google’s latest ________ plan to scan millions of books and put them on the Internet has ___ with a problem. Publishers are very angry because they say Google Print is ________ copyright laws. Book companies fear that putting copyrighted books on the Internet will seriously ______ publishing. They compare it to how the illegal downloading of music has ______ the music industry. Google Print will ______ books from the university libraries of Harvard, Stanford, Michigan and Oxford. People will be able to _________ small amounts of material for personal use.

Publishers are furious at Google for _________ copyright law upside _____. Writers now have to contact Google Print to stop the scanning of their _____. Lawyers say the problem is because of copyright laws that are centuries _____. New laws cannot be made quickly enough to keep up to date with developments in ____________ information. A Google press release stated: “We’re going to continue talking [with] the publishing industry. These discussions have been _________ in helping to build a program that benefits…the millions of users who’ll be able to _________ new books.”

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on Google Print. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson.

3. LETTER: Write a letter to the boss of Google Print. Tell him / her what you think of the idea of Google Print. Read your letters to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you all have similar thoughts?

4. DIARY / JOURNAL: Imagine you are a writer. Your books being put online by Google Print may damage your future income. Write your diary / journal entry about your worries. Read your entry to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all write about similar things?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. T

b. F

c. F

d. F

e. T

f. T

g. F

h. T

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	amazing	awesome
b.	problem	obstacle
c.	fear	worry
d.	damage	harm
e.	reproduce	copy
f.	furious	angry
g.	stop	create
h.	discussions	talks
i.	build	prevent
j.	discover	find

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	Google’s latest	amazing plan
b.	has met with	a problem
c.	they say Google Print is breaking	copyright laws
d.	illegal downloading of music has	harmed the music industry
e.	reproduce small amounts	of material
f.	Publishers are furious	at Google
g.	copyright laws that	are centuries old
h.	keep up to date	with developments
i.	These discussions have	been crucial
j.	millions of users who’ll be	able to discover new books

GAP FILL:

Google delays book scanning

Google’s latest amazing plan to scan millions of books and put them on the Internet has met with a problem. Publishers are very angry because they say Google Print is breaking copyright laws. Book companies fear that putting copyrighted books on the Internet will seriously damage publishing. They compare it to how the illegal downloading of music has harmed the music industry. Google Print will scan books from the university libraries of Harvard, Stanford, Michigan and Oxford. People will be able to reproduce small amounts of material for personal use.

Publishers are furious at Google for turning copyright law upside down. Writers now have to contact Google Print to stop the scanning of their works. Lawyers say the problem is because of copyright laws that are centuries old. New laws cannot be made quickly enough to keep up to date with developments in electronic information. A Google press release stated: “We’re going to continue talking [with] the publishing industry. These discussions have been crucial in helping to build a program that benefits…the millions of users who’ll be able to discover new books.”
 

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